I do have a responsibility to keep my inventions from evil hands – but I have a greater responsibility to oppose that evil any way I can. So, Tony Stark may have done his bit out there, but only Iron Man can do what has to be done... So... I guess Iron Man will be around for a while.

Synopsis for "Stark Wars, Chapter VII: Reborn Again"

At Tony Stark’s home, a wall of television screens is playing several different TV shows at once: predominantly news, but also Wheel of Fortune,Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch, Jem and the Holograms, and Speed Racer. All of the news shows are discussing Iron Man’s recent fall from favor and apparent death (last issue). Jim Rhodes asks Tony is he should rotate the satellite dish to get some more channels, but Stark is satisfied that the world does indeed consider Iron Man to be dead. He, unfortunately, is not much better off. He has three cracked ribs, a sprained arm, an injured knee, and numerous injuries on his face. He has also had a blood transfusion. Rhodes helps him to his bedroom, telling him that he should count himself lucky: his recovery from what the doctors think was him being thrown out of his seat in a helicopter has been nothing short of miraculous.

Stark begins to reminisce about the events of the past few issues: first, Justin Hammer had Spymaster steal his secret technology, and then distributed it, forcing Iron Man to fight those he had supplied the secrets too. However, he has crossed many lines, and in the eyes of the public has caused much harm. As a result, the government sent Firepower after him. When Firepower “beat the living crap” out of Iron Man, he took refuge in the observation helicopter with Rhodes. The military was about to destroy the helicopter, so he and Rhodes filled the Iron Man suit with their stores of whole blood and sent it out on its own, controlling it with transmissions from the chopper’s radio gear. Thus, Firepower only destroyed Iron Man’s empty suit.

Rhodes says that now that the pressure on Stark Enterprises is starting to ease with the news of Iron Man’s death, he has a great excuse to build a new suit of armor. Stark, though, putting on a suit, replies that he is afraid of dangerous technology being stolen from him again; he intends to let Iron Man stay dead.

A moment later, in a desert arroyo, two soldiers, Private Baskin and Corporal Winters, fire rockets at Firepower, in his armor. Edwin Cord observes. The structural integrity of Firepower’s armor is intact, and the fight with Iron Man didn’t do it any damage. Senator Boynton and General Meade show up, wanting to take custody of the armor, but Cord refuses to give it to them. He says that should they try to take it, he will reveal to the tabloids how the armor was conceived as a riot control device and has Taggart blow up the flatbed truck they were going to use to take away the armor. They are cowed; though Meade is very unhappy.

North of Los Angeles, a company helicopter takes Stark to the administration building of Stark Enterprises. His employees welcome him warmly, and he tells them that the dark days are over. His head of public relations advices that he hire Bill Cosby as the new corporate spokesperson.

Over the next few days, Edwin Cord and Firepower seem determined to sabotage Stark Enterprises: they intimidate a manufacturing group into not accepting a Stark contract bid, blow up a shipment for Accutech Research and Development (a subsidiary of Stark Enterprises), and eventually, after more days of destruction and harassment, drive Stark Enterprises to the point where, as Tony, at the Stark railyards, says, they “can’t afford to lose another account.” He tells Rhodey that he filed a protest in Washington, but was blocked, and so much pressure is being applied that he can’t even get the police involved. Just then, Firepower arrives, injuring Bill Segrist, who is in charge of the railyard. He gives Stark a message from Cord: having destroyed Iron Man, he now plans to destroy the rest of Stark’s life.

Stark goes home, leaving Rhodes confused at his apparent lack of action. In his basement lab, he spends the next several weeks making a new suit, despite his earlier reluctance. He includes new features, such as a beta particle power supply, experimental attack, and defense modes, and a self-destruct feature if circuit duplication is attempted without access to secret codes that only Stark knows. He completes the armor and then resolves to destroy it as soon as Firepower is dealt with.

A few days later, north of San Francisco, Iron Man shows up to stop Firepower from harassing a celebration of a new Stark Enterprises facility in Marin County. They fight, and Iron Man wins easily, but Firepower’s backpack nuke almost goes off; Stark has to use an EMP pulse and a sophisticated sensor scan to stop it. Firepower, unaware that this new Iron Man is actually the same as the old one, warns him that there’ll be others, and eventually, someone will kill him.

Iron Man returns to his coastal mansion and realizes that Firepower was right: there will always be others, and someone must protect the world against them. He decides to continue being Iron Man and retires to bed for a good night’s sleep.

Notes

This issue contains a letters page "Printed Circuits". It includes Mark's Remarks as well as letters from Michael J. Church, Charles S. Novinskie, David Metz, and Robert Fermiers.

This issue is reprinted in comics and books, see references for more info.[1]